Piccolo Junior Saga

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Dragon Ball Sagas Piccolo Junior Saga
Episodes (uncut) 123-153
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The Piccolo Junior Saga is the last saga of the Dragon Ball original series to occur in the manga and the second last in the anime.

This saga covers two things: Goku's training with Kami, the Guardian of Earth, and Goku's subsequent participation in the Tenka-ichi Budōkai (World Martial Arts Championship Tournament) against Piccolo Jr., the spawn/reincarnation of his last great opponent, Piccolo Daimaō.

1 DVDs
2 Prelude to the tournament
3 Tenkaichi Budokai
4 Conclusion
5 Anime filler
6 Episode list

[edit] DVDs

Piccolo Jr. Saga (9.1) (123-137)
Piccolo Jr. Saga (9.2) (138-153)

[edit] Prelude to the tournament

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After defeating Daimaō in a close battle, Goku faints and is taken to Korin Tower by Yajirobe for recovery. When he arrives, Korin gives Goku a Senzu bean and he heals quickly.

Since the Demon King killed the dragon, no one who was killed during his rampage can be brought back to life; worse still, those killed by the Demon King do not go to the afterlife, instead spending eternity in restless wandering. Korin has an answer for this though, and tells Goku that Kami, who resides in the sky above Korin Tower created the Dragon Balls and is the only one who can bring back the dragon. When Goku asks how he can get up there, Korin replies that Goku's nyoi-bo (extending staff), which has been missing since his battle with the Demon King, is designed to extend from the top of Korin Tower up to Kami's Lookout.

Goku quickly goes back to the site of his battle with Piccolo and, not finding his pole there, then heads off to the Fortuneteller Baba who tells him that his staff is at the Kame House.

Retrieving his staff and then returning to Korin Tower, Korin shows Goku where to place his pole and gives him a little bell to show Kami that he is the "chosen one" and sent by Korin. Goku then commences to extend his pole, with him on it, up to Kami's Lookout.

After traveling on the pole for a little while, it came to an end once it connected to the lookout. Goku quickly climbed to the top and met a djinn who introduced himself as Mr. Popo, Kami's servant. Upon seeing his bell, Mr. Popo tells Goku that he is eligible to be tested, and must defeat Mr. Popo in a fight. Goku starts the fight relatively carefree, thinking that Mr. Popo will be no challenge, but soon finds himself clearly outmatched.

Though Goku seemingly failed the test, he asks to stay and train himself to try again. Mr. Popo agrees and starts to give him lessons on controlling his movements, speed and sensing his opponents actions. Soon Kami himself interrupts and states that he will see Goku.

Goku was shocked to discover that Kami and Demon King Piccolo looked exactly the same, something that he soon learned was due to the fact that they were at one time a single entity. Kami agrees to recreate the dragon so that Kuririn, Master Roshi, Chaozu and the others killed by Piccolo can be brought back to life, but only under the condition that Goku stay on the lookout for three years in order to train and be ready to confront Daimaō's offspring at the next Tenkaichi Budokai.

[edit] Tenkaichi Budokai

Finally, three years passed, and a teenage Goku met up with his friends at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Soon after exchanging greetings, Goku briefly met Ma Jr. and then a mysterious young woman who was angered that he didn't recognize her.

[edit] Preliminaries

After Chaozu fixed the numbers so that Goku, his friends, and Ma Jr. wouldn't meet each other until the finals, the first elimination rounds started. The first match was a rematch between Goku and King Chapa (who Goku defeated in the last tournament), which Goku ended with a mild tap to knock out his opponent. Yamcha, Kuririn and Tenshinhan also easily breeze through their fights, but Chaozu is brutally beaten by a now cyborg Tao Pai Pai, who seeks revenge on Goku for nearly killing him and Tenshinhan for betraying his school. Additionally the young woman makes it to the finals as well as Shen, a nerdish looking man who, seemingly by accident, defeats a disguised Yajirobe.

This leaves the eight finalists as:

Goku
Shen
Ma Jr.
Kuririn
Yamcha
Tenshinhan
Tao Pai Pai
Stranger (The mysterious young woman)

[edit] Quarter-finals

[edit] Tao Pai Pai vs. Tenshinhan

Tao Pai Pai starts the fight confident that he will quickly defeat Tenshinhan, but instead finds himself far outclassed. In an act of desperation, he breaks the tournament rules by removing one of his robotic hands and revealing a knife; before Tenshinhan can react, Tao Pai Pai quickly slices him on his chest. Dropping his other hand, Tao Pai Pai reveals a cannon, which he then uses to fire a Super Dodonpa at Tenshinhan; Tenshinhan nullifies the attack with a Kiai and then quickly counters, dropping Tao Pai Pai with a single hit.

After being named the victor, Tenshinhan carries the unconscious Tao Pai Pai to the edge of the stadium and drops him at the feet of Tsuru Senin, his old master who was rooting for Tenshinhan's death, and tells him to take Tao Pai Pai and leave, never to bother him again.

[edit] Goku vs. Stranger

The stranger attacks Goku vigorously, asking Goku if he remembers who she is. When he says that he still doesn't, she tells him that he promised to take her as his wife, prompting Goku to ask Kuririn for clarification on exactly what a wife is. Yamcha ends up telling him what it means and the stranger then says that if Goku can beat her, she'll tell him her name. Goku is satisfied with this agreement and quickly blows her out of the ring with an invisible blast of energy.

The stranger is pleased that she took such a strong warrior for a husband and reveals herself to be Chi-Chi. She then holds on to his arm as they exit the ring for the next fight to begin.

[edit] Ma Jr. vs. Kuririn

Kuririn starts the fight off quickly with two homing ki bolts which Ma Jr. quickly neutralizes with blasts from his eyes. It was a distractive ploy though, as Kuririn used Ma Jr.'s diverted attention to land a punch. Kuririn then charges at the demon for some quick sparring until Ma Jr. seemingly kicks Kuririn out of the ring; Kuririn recovers though, in the process demonstrating that over his last three years training he has learned how to fly.

On seeing Kuririn's endurance and techniques, Ma Jr. decides to fight somewhat seriously; he quickly grabs Kuririn from across the arena by stretching his arm and delivers a fierce punch once he's reeled Kuririn in. Kuririn recovers from the hit and charges right back at Ma Jr., but is kicked into the air, with Ma Jr. in close pursuit. In an act of desperation Kuririn attempts to use the kamehameha at point blank range, but Ma Jr. dodges it with the after-image technique and ends up behind him; Ma Jr. uses the opportunity to deliver a powerful overhead smash to Kuririn, sending him crashing to the arena floor.

Kuririn manages to stagger to his feet, but is heavily injured and forfeits the match.

[edit] Shen vs. Yamcha

Yamcha enters the ring extremely confident due to Shen's unassuming appearance. He allows Shen to attack first and easily dodges the clumsy chop, but is kicked in the side, seemingly by accident, when Shen trips. Thinking that it was simply a lucky shot, Yamcha dismisses the attack and prepares one of his own. He launches himself at Shen with a kick but Shen ducks it, inadvertently causing Yamcha to smash his groin on Shen's head.

Blustered by Shen's extreme "luck", Yamcha states that he'll fight seriously. Shen states that he will do so as well and launches a very fast attack, striking Yamcha with his elbow and knocking him down. Yamcha gets up and charges at Shen, but his attack is easily stopped and he is sent back to the ground with a quick kick to the leg. Yamcha attacks twice more, but both times is quickly countered and knocked down. The entire time they are fighting, Shen gives pointers to Yamcha, telling him what mistakes he is making, he then confesses to Yamcha that he's not actually human, and is only borrowing the body that he's in.

Unable to connect with any physical attacks, Yamcha uses his last resort attack: the Sokidan, a guided ki ball. Shen dodges the balls first pass, and then the second which causes the ball to crash under the ring floor; Yamcha then commands the ball to come back up directly under Shen and makes a direct hit. Shen quickly retaliates though, and smashes into Yamcha with his elbow, knocking him out of the ring.

At this point, Goku pieces it together and realizes that Shen is actually Kami in disguise.

[edit] Semi-finals

[edit] Goku vs. Tenshinhan

Goku and Tenshinhan both start the fight off right away, charging into each other with a flurry of blows. After a few scuffles, and a doubly reflected ki bolt, Tenshinhan is left a bit out of breath while Goku remains in top form.

Tenshinhan then demonstrates his true speed and seems to dominate the fight after that though, landing several blows and evading all of Goku's attacks. Goku asks Tenshinhan if he can remove some of his clothing and Tenshinhan is shocked to discover that they're heavily weighted. With the burden removed Goku's speed is now considerably greater than Tenshinhan's, and he is able to take Tenshinhan's belt without Tenshinhan noticing.

Realizing that he's outclassed, Tenshinhan uses his secret weapon: the ability to divide himself into four separate, thinking bodies. Each of Tenshinhan's new bodies quickly heads to an arena corner and fires a blast at Goku, who has nowhere to dodge except up; once he's in the air though, each Tenshinhan hits Goku with a blast from his third eye, bringing him crashing to the area floor.

Goku gets back up and announces to Tenshinhan that there are two flaws with the technique and that he'll soon win. Tenshinhan disbelieves him and attempts to do the same attack pattern as before; he's interrupted though when Goku uses the solar flare technique after leaping in the air, blinding all of the Tenshinhan's. As he's recovering Goku explains that Tenshinhan's eyes are too good, and that since he relies on them so much, he's almost helpless when blinded. Goku then proceeds to quickly dispatch each Tenshinhan with one hit, demonstrating the second weakness; splitting into four bodies reduced each of them to 1/4 of the original Tenshinhan's strength and speed.

[edit] Shen vs. Ma Jr.

Shen starts the fight off quickly, catching Piccolo off-guard by demonstrating his powerful techniques right away. Piccolo, shocked that such a weak looking human could present him such a challenge. Piccolo is able to then read Shen's thoughts and learn that his body is simply borrowed, when he questions Shen about this Shen responds in Namekian, causing Piccolo to piece together that it's actually Kami in disguise.

Knowing that Shen can't do him any significant harm, as Piccolo's death would be Kami's as well, Piccolo is briefly amused by the concept but soon becomes terrified at the thought that Kami might be willing to commit suicide. Kami assures Piccolo that he has no intent on dying and instead shows Piccolo his ace-up-the-sleeve and, after placing a small jar on the ground, uses the Mafuba technique in an attempt to contain the demon. Piccolo had prepared for this though, and reversed the Mafuba against Kami, who abandoned his borrowed body to prevent the human from being trapped with him. With Kami trapped in the bottle, Shen is, of course, no longer capable of fighting and Piccolo is declared the winner of the fight.

After this fight is over, Piccolo taunts Goku by swallowing the bottle containing Kami. The only way to retrieve it now would be to kill Piccolo, thereby killing Kami as well.

[edit] Final Round: Goku vs. Ma Jr.

Piccolo next squares off against Goku. After some initial attacks, Piccolo attempts to destroy the arena, and all the spectators, with a powerful attack; Goku manages to deflect it though. When Piccolo attempts to do it again, Goku counters with his kamehameha and reflects the beam back at Piccolo, scathing him and destroying some of his clothes, including his turban. Without his turban he is recognized by the crowd who panic and flee; this works to Goku's advantage as he no longer has to worry about the bystanders being harmed.

Piccolo next uses his kyodaika to grow roughly four times his size. After being thrown and taunted by Goku, Piccolo grows even further, to the size of a large building; this again works to Goku's advantage however, as he is able to enter Piccolo's mouth and then escape with the bottle where Kami is stored. Realizing that his great size is not helping him fight Goku, Piccolo returns to his normal size.

After some more sparring, Piccolo hits Goku with his tsuno beam (electricity from his antennas) and leaves Goku stunned. As he moves in for a follow-up blow, he is blocked by Kami who enters the fight. Goku protests this and after making Kami agree to let him fight on his own, allows Piccolo a free hit.

Piccolo next attempts his tsuihidan technique, a blast which follows his opponent; Goku once again turns the tables on him and manages to get the beam to hit Piccolo instead by dashing right behind him. The blast seriously damages one of Piccolo's arms and he is forced to rip it off and grow a new one. In a fit of rage Piccolo next uses an attack which generates a massive explosion emanating from him. Though Piccolo puts a great deal of his energy into the attack, it has little effect on Goku. Goku uses Piccolo's now exhausted state to land a series of attacks on him, finishing with kamehameha.

Thinking Piccolo defeated, Goku lets down his guard down while the announcer begins the countdown. As the counter approaches 10, signifying a defeat, Piccolo suddenly springs up catches Goku by surprise with a beam from his mouth, blasting a hole through Goku's shoulder. Thus weakened, Piccolo is able to systematically cripple Goku. To finish him off, Piccolo leaps in the air and fires a powerful ki attack at him, leaving no trace of Goku.

Piccolo, though heavily battered by the battle, turns to Goku's terrified friends, gloating. His victory is short-lived though, as, unknown to all, Goku had mastered the art of flight and dodged the attack. Goku then smashed his inert body into Piccolo, knocking him out of the ring and causing him to lose the tournament.

[edit] Conclusion

With Piccolo beaten, Yajirobe approaches and gives Goku a senzu bean, bringing him back to perfect condition immediately. Goku begins to dance about, celebrating his victory, until he notices Kami about to finish off the defeated Piccolo. He quickly places himself between them, knowing that if Piccolo dies, Kami and the Dragon Balls will vanish as well.

Kami then laments that Piccolo's existence is his fault, and for that he is no longer worthy of life, let alone to be the Earth's God. Master Roshi then speaks up, stating that it was because of the Dragon Balls, and their setting Goku off on his grand adventure, that the world is now in peace; logic Kami accepts.

After Kami restores Goku's tattered uniform, Goku asks Yajirobe for a second senzu. To everyone's surprise, he gives the bean to Piccolo, instantly putting the demon back on his feet. Goku tells everyone that he doesn't want to risk Kami's health by leaving Piccolo on the verge of death; he also admits that he doesn't want to lose his nemesis. Piccolo shows complete contempt for Goku's mercy, thinking him soft and, just before leaving, giving his word that he will return someday to shatter Goku and take over the world.

Kami, seeing Goku's strength and pity, judges him worthy and offers Goku to take his place as God of the Earth. Goku protests this though, stating that such a position was not the adventure he was looking for. At this point Chaozu arrives on the scene after leaving the hospital. With one final rejection of Kami's offer, Goku summons his flying cloud Kintoun, grabs Chi-Chi, and flies off.

[edit] Anime filler

In the anime, Goku's training at Kami's lookout is expanded, with him having to face various tests. After his victory over Piccolo Jr. a 5-episode mini-saga occurs which details his adventures with Chi-Chi up to their wedding.